Method of preparing camera copy for multicolor printing



Oct. 17, 1944. L. s. SANDERS METHOD OF PREPARING CAMERA COPY FORMULTICOLOR PRINTING Filed July 21, 1942 FIG.4.

4&0

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

LOUIS S. SANDE RS BY J 4&7 JM

ATTORNEYS.

Oct. '17, 1944.

L s. SANDERS METHOD OF PREPARING CAMERA COPY FOR MULTICOLOR PRINTINGFiled July 21, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.6.

INVENTOR. LOUIS s. SANDERS.

7/ ,IMW/OMM ATTORNEYS.

Patented Oct. 17, 1944 METHOD OF PREPARING CAMERA COPY FOR MULTICO-LORPRINTING Louis S. Sanders, Shaker Heights, Ohio Application July 21,1942, Serial No. 451,700

1 Claim.

This invention relates, as indicated, to a method of preparing cameracopy for multicolor printing, but has reference more particularly to thepreparation of such camera copy for use in making line and halftoneplates for comic supplements and the like.

In my Patent No. 2,224,270, there is described a method of preparingcamera copy for multicolor printing, which consists in providing aplurality of sheets of a drawing medium containing an invisibleregularly recurring pattern, said sheets corresponding in number to thenumber of primary colors involved in the final image to be printed,applying to each of said sheets lines which separate objects ofdifierent colors, said lines having substantially no photographic value,but sufiiciently visible to the artist to serve as guide lines, andapplying to portions of said sheets representing color a developingagent, whereby said patterns are brought to visibility.

The foregoing method, while, satisfactory in general, involves the useof a key plate which carries the outlines of the various parts of thefinal printed picture which are to appear in different colors, and theuse of this key plate to print with a light blue ink which has nophotographic value, the outlines of the drawings on four separate sheetsof the special drawing medium described above.

The present invention has as its primary object the provision of amethod of preparing camera copy for multiple color printing, in whichthe necessity for key plates, outlines and ink for printing or formingthe outlines is completely obviated.

I accomplish this by the use of transparent media bearing aphotographically invisible Ben Fig. 4 is a view of copy from which thenegative for the red plate is produced;

Fig. 5 is a view, on a greatly enlarged scale, of a fragment of thatportion of Fig. 4, which is enclosed within the circle;

Fig. 6 is a view of copy from which the negative for the blue plate isproduced;

Day, halftone or other regularly recurring pattern, instead of media ofan opaque character, such as described in the aforesaid patents.

In order to better understand the invention, however, reference is madeto the annexed drawings forming a part of the present application, andin which Fig. 1 is a view of a picture, similar to those which arecommonly found in the color comic supplements of Sunday newspapers, butprinted with color plates which have been produced with the camera copyof the present invention as a basis;

Fig. 2 is a view of copy from which the negative for the yellow plate isproduced;

Fig. 3 is a view, on a greatly enlarged scale, of a fragment of thatportion of Fig. 2, which is enclosed within the dotted rectangle;

Fig. 7 is a view, on a greatly enlarged scale. of a fragment of thatportion of Fig. 6, which is enclosed within the circle; and

Fig. 8 is a view of copy from which the negative for the black plate isproduced.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, and especially to Fig. 1,this view represents a picture, similar to those,which are commonlyfound in the color comic supplements of Sunday newspapers, and printedwith four different color plates, designated hereinafter as the yellow,red, blue and black plates, it being understood, however, that theinvention is not limited in respect to the number of different colorplates employed or to the use of plates of any particular color. Theabove colors have been chosen for purposes of illustration, principallyfor the reason that they are primary colors used in newspaper colorwork, and are those by means of which a large variety of tones andshades may be produced.

In Fig. 1, in addition to the black parts which are shown in black,other parts appear in color as follows:

The walls I, carpet 2, the picture 3 and the womans hair 4 are in alight shade of yellow, while the pillow 5 and chair trim band 6 are in asolid or deeper shade of yellow. The lamp 1, book 8, faces of theindividuals, hands 9 of the woman, and stockings ID are in a light shadeof red (pink), while the dress II, shoe Ila, and tie l2 are in a deep orsolid shade of red. The chair I3 is in deep blue, the'sky I4 is a lightblue, the chair IS in green, and the table It in brown. The shoes I1 andball of yarn 18 are in gray. The green tone is produced by a combinationof blue and yellow shades, while the brown tone is produced by acombination of yellow, red and black.

In the preparation of the camera copy from which the negatives used inmaking the color plates are made, it is proposed to use a transparent orlight-transmitting drawing medium which contains a photographicallyinvisible Ben Day, halftone or other regularly recurring pattern, anumber of which are readily available in the market, and all of whichare admirably adapted for the purpose at hand. Such drawing media aredescribed at some length in United States Letters Patent Nos. 2,009,586and 2,021,816,

and in a pending application of Maurice D. Molntosh, Serial No. 452,868,filed Jul! 80, 1942. It is to be understood, however, that; anytransparent or light transmitting surface which can be drawn upon andwhich. contains or bears such a photographically invisible pattern orpatterns, capable of being chemically developed for photo- Draphicpurposes. may be employed .as a drawing medium Since the media, to whichreference has been made, are transparent and therefore transmit assess?and tie I2. m... portions of the sheet a, which correspond with thelight red or pink portions of the drawing of Fig. 1, are brought out asunilight directly from the picture of Fig. 1' when has been described.Instead of this, the artists will take four sheets of such medium andtreat them in the following manner:

The artist will take the first sheet, shown in Fig. 2, and designated byreference character Y, place it over the picture (Fig. 1), so that theentire picture is visible to him through the sheet,

and h will then paint, orotherwise fill in,

v with India or similar black ink, those portions of the sheet whichcorrespond with the solid yellow portions of the drawing of Fig. 1. Suchportions are the pillow 5 and chair band trim 0. Those portions of thesheet Y which correspond with the light, shade of yellow portions of thedrawing of Fig. 1 are brought out as uniformly spaced black dots bydeveloping such portions of the invisible pattern which the sheet bearsor contains. Such portions are the walls I, carpet 2, picture 3 and thehair 4, and, since the green tone of the chair I 5 and the brown tone ofthe table I6 are formed of combinations of colors which include yellow,such chair and table are also developed along with the portions I, 2, land 4. Thedeveloper which is employed in any particular case will dependon the drawing medium used, and the developer may be applied as by meansof a brush or in any other suitable manner. If adrawing medium, such asdescribed in Patent No. 2,008,586 is used, a suitable acid is used asthe developer. If a medium such as described in Patent No. 2,021,816 isused, a soluble sulphide is used as the developer. If a medium such adescribed in McIntosh application, Serial No. 452,863, is used, thedeveloper or developers referred to in said application may be used.

The manner in which the pattern is developed is clearly illustrated inFig. 3, wherein the invisible undeveloped portions of the pattern areindicated by the unshaded circles (dots) 20, and undeveloped portions bythe shaded circles (dots) in the wall I and chair I5.

The sheet Y, as thus developed, is removed from the picture (Fig. 1),and forms'the camera I copy from which the negative used in making theyellow color plate is made, being set aside until the camera copy forthe other plates is completed.

The artist will then take the second sheet shown in Fig. 4.,anddesignated by reference character R, place it over the picture (Fig. 1),so that the entire picture is visible to him through the sheet, and hewill then paint or otherwise fill in with India or similar black ink,

those portions of the sheet which correspondwith the solid red portionsoi the drawing of Fig. 1. Such portions are the dress II, shoe lie,

.with the portion I4.

bears. Such portions are the lamp 1, book I,

faces of the individuals, hand 9 of the woman, and stocking I0, and,since the brown tone of the table II is formed of a combination ofcolors which includes red, such table is also developed along with theportions I, I, 9 and Ill. The pattern is developed in precisely the samemanner as the pattern on the sheet Y. The sheet R, as thus developed, isremoved from the picture (Fig. 1) and forms the camera copy from whichthe negative used in making the red color plate is made. g

The artist will then 'take the third sheet shown in Fig. 6, anddesignated by reference character B, place it over the picture (Fig. 1),so that the entire picture is visible to him through the sheet, and hewill then paint or otherwise fill in, with India or similar black ink,those portions of the sheet which correspond with the solid or deep blueportions of the drawing'of Fig. 1. Such is the chair I3. Those portionsof the sheet B, which correspond with the light blue portions of .thedrawing of Fig. 1, are brought out as uniformly spaced black dots bydeveloping such portions of the invisible pat-- tern which the sheetbears. Such is the sky II, and, since the green tone'of the chair I! isformed of a combination of colors which includes blue, such chair I5 isalso developed along The pattern is developed in the same manner as thepatterns on sheets Y and R, and the sheet B, as thus developed, isremoved from the picture (Fig. 1) and forms the camera copy from whichthe negative used in making the blue color plate is made.

Finally, the artist will take the fourth and last sheet, shown in Fig.8, and designated by reference character B, place it over the picture(Fig. 1), so that the entire picture is visible to him through thesheet, and he will then paint or otherwise fill in, with India orsimilar black ink, those portions of the sheet which correspond with thesolid black portions of the drawing of Fig. 1. Those portions of thesheet 3', which correspond with the gray portions of the drawing of Fig.1, are brought out as uniformly spaced black dots by developing suchportions of the invisible pattern which the sheet bears. Such portionsare the shoes I1 and ball of yarn I8, and, since the brown tone of thetable I! is formed of a combination of colors which includes black, suchtable is also developed along with the portions I1 and I8. The patternis developed in the same manner as the patterns on sheets Y, R. and B,and the sheet B, as thus developed, is the camera copy from which thenegative used in making the black color plate is made.

Using the sheets as camera copy, negatives are made therefrom in theusual manner, and with these negatives, zinc or copper color printingplates are printed and etched. In making such colorplates, it is thusnot required that color filters, halftone screens or Ben Day shadingmethods, devices or mediums be used. To insure perfect-registry ofcolors, the camera with which the negatives are made, is locked, so asto predescribed in McIntosh application, Serial No.

452,863, is of particular value for use in cases where two differentshades of the same color are desired. In that case, one of the twopatterns, i. e., that consisting of spaced dots, will be developed torepresent or form camera copy for lighter shade, while the otherpattern, consisting of parallel lines, and hence, a darker pattern, willbe developed to represent or form camera copy for the darker shade. Inthis way, one sheet of the medium could be used to provide, for example,for three diiIerent shades of yellow, i. e., black for solid yellow;dotted pattern for light yellow, and parallel lines for a deeper orintermediate shade or yellow.

It will be apparent from the foregoing, that a method has been providedwhereby line and halftone color plates may be made quickly and easily,without the use of color filters, halftone screens, Ben Day shadingmachines, key plates or ink for printing or forming the outline of thedesired picture. It will also be apparent, since such equipment is notrequired, that relatively unskilled and inexpensive labor may beemployed in the preparation of the color plates,

thereby opening fields for color work which have not heretofore beenexplored. I

Other modes of applying the principle of my invention may be employedinstead of the one explained, change being made as regards the means andthe step herein disclosed, provided those stated by the following claimor its equivalent be employed.

I therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

In a method of preparing color plates for multicolor printing, the stepswhich consist in providing a plurality of sheets of a transparent orlight-transmitting drawing medium containing a photographicallyinvisible regularly recurring pattern, said sheets corresponding innumber to a preselected number of primary colors involves in the finalimage to be printed, superimposing said sheets, one at a time, over apicture corresponding to the color picture to be ultimately produced, soas to render said picture visible through said sheets, applying adeveloping agent to portions of said sheets superimposed over selectedcolors in said picture, whereby said patterns are brought to visibility,and utilizing said sheets for the preparation of said color plates.

LOUIS S. SANDERS.

